University of Reading's AI-Driven Network Builds Digital Foundation to Enhance Student Experiences

0:01 hi my name's Jamie pitchforth I'm head

0:03 of strategic business at Juniper here in

0:06 the UK today I'm in conversation with

0:08 Stuart Brown the chief digital officer

0:10 from the University of reading hi Stuart

0:12 hi Jamie so the proliferation of mobile

0:15 devices

0:17 digital technology in general has driven

0:19 a demand from students now where they're

0:22 always connected they're hunger for

0:24 network resources has never been as it

0:26 is today how are you coping with that

0:28 here in the University it's a massive

0:30 challenge Jamie uh so we we've always

0:32 known that the secret to that is to make

0:34 sure we've got a really really strong

0:36 reliable Network

0:38 so we took a view a couple of years ago

0:40 to make sure what's the number one thing

0:42 that they're really worried about and

0:43 that's Wi-Fi connectivity

0:45 so we we took the the view of should we

0:48 could we replace it with a light for

0:50 like solution or should we look at

0:52 something slightly different that gave

0:54 us some advantage over some of the other

0:56 uh competition out there for students to

0:59 come and come and study here we know we

1:02 need to get them connected as soon as as

1:04 we possibly can the minute they step

1:05 forth on campus and it's got to be the

1:08 most simple process you can possibly

1:10 imagine for them to do that and that's

1:13 the first impression they get at the

1:14 University so it's really important we

1:16 get that right no absolutely so one of

1:18 my favorite subjects the the selection

1:20 criteria

1:21 we came out on top you've chosen Juniper

1:24 Mist as your strategic technology really

1:27 for the next five to ten years what was

1:29 the process you undertook it was a

1:31 fairly straightforward process in so far

1:33 as we could either replace like for like

1:35 or we could replace with something that

1:39 was going to enable us to digitally

1:40 transform the like for like option is

1:43 always easier on a business case

1:45 but in this situation we had an

1:47 opportunity to really transform the

1:49 capability of Wi-Fi across the network

1:51 and we saw something new

1:55 and Innovative in the Juniper Miss

1:57 solution it wasn't also from a sales

1:59 pitch it was from my own team who spoke

2:02 to me and said look at this technology

2:05 can we do a proof of concept we need to

2:08 see if it a works but B does it actually

2:11 do what it says on the tin and so we ran

2:14 a proof of concept in our library using

2:16 Juniper mist

2:17 the good news was it works and as far as

2:19 the the executive board here are

2:21 concerned it has to work Wireless Wi-Fi

2:23 is the number one service we need to be

2:25 running properly

2:26 it worked and so all the other

2:29 value-added piece was was is an added

2:32 bonus to that to that decision making

2:35 and so

2:37 it was a very easy answer in the end to

2:39 choose Juniper mist and now students are

2:42 arriving with three four five six and

2:44 probably some even more devices the

2:47 ability for you guys is it to onboard

2:49 those devices as seemingly as possible

2:51 is is absolutely essential how's that

2:55 changed from an overhead on it you know

2:57 once upon a time you were having to

2:58 onboard all of those devices together

3:00 and now you provide that kind of

3:02 self-service where they could sit in the

3:04 home from home experience where they can

3:06 connect their own devices build their

3:08 own networks within your network

3:10 it's just a huge headache welcome week

3:13 would be an army of of people making

3:16 sure we've got students who snake around

3:18 the campus making sure they can connect

3:20 and it was a painful experience for both

3:22 the student and for us to try and

3:24 support them so now with self-service

3:26 and just getting up and running on our

3:28 regiroam Wi-Fi solution they can just do

3:31 that we've also got that in Halls of

3:34 residence as well so that they can just

3:35 connect via anything they want whether

3:37 it's their mobiles their Xboxes again we

3:40 couldn't support that in the past but

3:42 now they can do that fairly seamlessly

3:43 and certainly the campus experience

3:45 their first impression is really is much

3:48 improved the second point I think is

3:50 around

3:51 if there are any problems and of course

3:53 there will be some every now and then a

3:55 device might be too old their operating

3:57 system is a little bit old on their old

3:59 mobile device then we can look at that

4:01 really quickly now and see where the

4:03 issue is and we consider being the third

4:06 line guys the more the more experienced

4:08 guys and there's not many of them we can

4:10 throw that support to the first line

4:12 guys who can see that in real time what

4:15 the issues are and then advise that

4:16 student uh what action they can take to

4:19 get on on online so I know you invested

4:22 in a in a full Suite of uh of the missed

4:25 subscription so you have engagement

4:28 experience you have Marvis you have

4:31 location services and you have analytics

4:33 so a platform to really drive a digital

4:37 strategy on the subject specifically of

4:39 location services what are the key use

4:42 cases that you see within the university

4:44 for that technology so student

4:47 well-being is so important to us and

4:50 we've never really been able to see in

4:52 real time whether a student is suffering

4:55 a little bit with their studies falling

4:57 behind a little bit

4:58 in real time on a dashboard

5:01 using the technology we have with

5:03 location services in Juniper Mist we can

5:06 start to plump plug into those those

5:08 benefits we can start to see when a

5:10 student's attended a lecture or a

5:12 seminar we can see when they've been

5:13 through a return style in the library

5:15 and we can see as they've moved around

5:17 campus what type of clubs and societies

5:20 perhaps they might have signed up to you

5:22 get an overall view of that student and

5:24 that student's experience and well-being

5:26 and if there is anything that we need to

5:28 to be aware of in our student services

5:30 department because of that data then

5:33 those interactions can take place for a

5:36 positive outcome

5:37 so that the University's

5:39 vision for for students is is around

5:43 delivering excellent experience so

5:46 Technology Innovation and the network

5:48 architecture in general has has evolved

5:51 how are you now using the technology to

5:54 to Excel and deliver that great student

5:56 experience

5:58 so

5:59 of course the great student experience

6:01 is is just getting connectivity and

6:03 making sure that when they're hopping

6:04 from building to building they're not

6:06 losing that connectivity we've noticed

6:08 since since covid coming back to campus

6:11 everyone the demand on the network is

6:13 super high so it's really good that

6:16 we've got a network that's clever and it

6:18 can actually go out there and look and

6:20 load balance in a much better way than

6:21 we used to be able to do so when we have

6:23 got peaks in our library for study space

6:26 or during exam periods there is that

6:28 ability for that Network balance to be

6:30 going on using that I AI engine built

6:32 into into Marvis that's working really

6:35 well the other thing we're looking at

6:36 doing in terms of of footfall on campus

6:40 is actually for rather than I.T saying

6:43 look we've got this wonderful tool that

6:45 will enable you to do so much we've

6:47 actually got the business asking us

6:48 questions now so our Estates department

6:50 is asking us we really need to know what

6:54 the real-time occupation is of our

6:56 buildings are because we need to grow

6:58 and we haven't got the the capital

7:00 necessary to build new buildings on this

7:02 great campus so we need to use what

7:04 we've got already but we need to see in

7:07 real time

7:08 who's occupying the buildings or not so

7:10 again using those the technology we've

7:12 invested in with the Bluetooth beaconing

7:14 and bleed Technologies we are able to to

7:17 see in real time students staff moving

7:20 around buildings and we've got a single

7:22 source of Truth and that real data

7:24 driven and it's that data that's the

7:26 real key here so is what's the intention

7:28 in terms of using that data to drive

7:31 strategy and and investment what are the

7:34 key outcomes that you see that it will

7:36 come from I can see as just using the

7:38 compass better I mean we were we've got

7:41 to grow the sector is is financially

7:44 challenging I guess at the moment with

7:46 we're not allowed to increase student

7:48 fees and line inflation and your

7:49 inflation is increasing as we know so

7:52 how do we how do we make use of our

7:54 campus in the best way possible and

7:56 that's about rather than someone walking

7:58 around with a clipboard and taking a

8:01 snapshot in time of the occupation of

8:03 our buildings we can see it anywhere

8:05 anytime and I can take that data or the

8:07 director of State states can take that

8:09 data to our exec board or you can make

8:11 some much better data-driven decision

8:12 making as a result we're seeing some of

8:14 the other universities using that data

8:17 to understand footfall and occupancy so

8:21 that the plan in their longer terms is

8:22 to integrate the system using the apis

8:25 with the BMS system so whether that be a

8:28 Honeywell or a Schneider but the idea

8:31 being is that when you understand

8:32 occupancy you can use the engagement

8:34 engines to steer traffic into primary

8:37 spaces so that those secondary spaces we

8:40 can now turn off the lights if there's

8:41 nobody in the room here in the middle of

8:42 the summer like we are today we're

8:44 actually very warm turn down the air

8:45 conditioning or in the winter you know

8:47 turn down the heating but Translating

8:49 that into kilowatts and kilowatts into

8:52 money and ultimately you know money into

8:54 into long-term savings which is

8:56 fantastic but it's there how that fits

8:58 into the sustainability profile and

9:01 program and the carbon reduction that is

9:03 where I think the real winner will be

9:06 for you guys as as we drive forward

9:08 absolutely agree with you I mean

9:10 sustainability is one of our core

9:11 pillars of the University strategy we

9:13 want to be probably the most sustainable

9:15 University I know a lot of other

9:16 universities would like that badge too

9:18 but we are really serious about climate

9:20 change our climate Stripes come from

9:22 Reading uh and and anything as you say

9:25 that will allow us to be more

9:27 sustainable both financially and

9:29 environmentally let's be honest by using

9:31 the technology digital technology to to

9:33 inform us we'll we'll take advantage of

9:36 that so I agree with you I mean it could

9:38 be a question where a some of our our

9:40 students or staff believe that there is

9:42 someone in the in the library at two

9:43 o'clock in the morning the reality is

9:46 are they really there at 2 o'clock in

9:48 the morning and this is the kind of

9:49 things we can do to then turn lights off

9:51 save on electricity and had to have much

9:55 more of a smart canvas so talking of

9:58 smart AI artificial intelligence have

10:01 you seen like many of our other

10:03 customers quite big reductions in the

10:05 number of helpless tickets that are

10:06 coming in from students that are unable

10:09 to connect or having problems with their

10:11 connectivity have you seen a benefit we

10:13 have and we've had a shift left as well

10:15 so rather than the third line more kind

10:17 of experienced guys doing the the very

10:21 straightforward tickets that they would

10:22 have done before

10:23 that's now being done by the first line

10:25 guys

10:26 so so there's many more of those and

10:28 I've got the third line guys then doing

10:30 lots of the other value-add piece

10:33 they've done lots of the mapping for

10:35 example that's required for the

10:37 Bluetooth beacons to see as you walk

10:39 around the buildings that real-time

10:41 occupancy that has to be done with with

10:43 maps yeah and they've had the time to do

10:45 that kind of work and further

10:47 implementations around the campus that

10:48 we would not have been able to do

10:50 because they would have been doing the

10:51 support so the solution you've chosen is

10:54 very much microservices Cloud

10:56 architecture so we're moving away from

10:58 traditional on-premise where you are

11:01 responsible for operations and patching

11:04 and all of those other software elements

11:06 to a world of of SAS where it's now a

11:09 service how has that made a difference

11:11 to you so one of our core digital

11:13 principles is cloud first and I I guess

11:16 finding a cloud first Wi-Fi solution is

11:20 quite a challenge but we're doing it for

11:22 mist you have that capability and the

11:24 joy of it is particularly around cyber

11:26 security is instead of the my guys doing

11:29 a lot of the preparation for the

11:31 upgrades of the controllers for the

11:33 upgrades the access points that's all

11:36 done with a click of button now it's so

11:38 much quicker for the guys to to do their

11:40 work are much more efficient so it's

11:42 brilliant in that in that respect

11:44 brilliant I'd like to say a huge thank

11:47 you to you Stuart for joining us today

11:49 and giving us such an insight into the

11:52 university here at reading thanks very

11:53 much Jamie for having me